Dist records 58% turnout in peaceful Panchayat polls

Times News Network

Ludhiana: The district election officer said that the voting exercise for gram panchayat elections in 784 villages of Ludhiana concluded peacefully on Tuesday. By 4pm, Ludhiana recorded a voting percentage of 58.9. District election officer/deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal inspected the polling exercise at various booths. There are 941 village panchayats in Ludhiana, out of which 157 panchayats were elected unanimously and voting was held in the remaining 784 villages. A total of 1,408 booths were set up. Excluding 157 unopposed elected panchayats, there were around 10 lakh voters, including 5.7 lakh men, 5 lakh women and 19 of the third gender. By 4pm, around 6.3 lakh voters had exercised their right to vote and around 35,283 voters were in queue.

Voting in more than 1,400 polling booths of the district started at 8am on Tuesday. In the initial two hours, till 10am, voter turnout was recorded at 9%. Lauding the role played by people across the district for smooth and peaceful conduct of polls, the deputy commissioner said that the district did not report any untoward incident during polling. He thanked the poll duty staff and security personnel for their dedication to duty.

Officials involved in the election process said that counting of votes started after completion of voting. They added that the results would be sent to the state election commission. The enthusiasm among voters outside polling booths was palpable.

Aitiana village resident Lakhvir Singh said that the atmosphere was festive, with the young and elderly going to polling booths to exercise their franchise. Saying that their main consideration was development, he said that 1,600 votes were polled in the village. One of the voters was 101-year-old Jagtar Singh of Dayalpura village in Samrala.

However, issues were reported from different areas. The DC stopped election of candidates Chandra Singh Dalla and Harpreet Singh Raju, who were contesting for the post of sarpanch at Dalla and Poona villages, on the order of Election Commission. The action was taken in a case of alleged land dispute. Both candidates have denied any wrongdoing.

In another case, a candidate contesting elections for the post of sarpanch at Rumi village alleged that he was allotted “Tractor” as election symbols and his campaign revolved around it. He said that he had shared pamphlets and put up flex boards using the same symbol. However, he added that the ballot paper had another symbol, “Khurpa.” Sources said that this led to an uproar, with the candidate and his supporters staging a protest for cancellation of election. The new ballot paper was issued after the matter was taken up by the district election office.

At Kothe Aath Chak, Ashok Kumar, candidate for the post of sarpanch, alleged that his name was there in the voter list when he filed nomination papers but when voting was taking place, it was not there. The candidate and his supporters had an argument with police officers who arrived at the spot.

Meanwhile, despite the election commission issuing instructions to keep wheelchairs for the physically challenged at polling booths, such arrangements had not been made in most polling booths. Physically challenged voters made their own arrangements .